Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Impatiens hawkeri cultivar Fisnics White.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of New Guinea Impatiens plant, botanically known as Impatiens hawkeri, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Fisnics Whitexe2x80x99.
The new Impatiens is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Hillscheid, Germany and Moncarapacho, Portugal. The objective of the breeding program is to develop new medium-sized Impatiens cultivars with an early to medium flowering response and large rounded flowers with attractive coloration.
The new Impatiens originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor during the summer of 1998 of a proprietary seedling selection of Impatiens hawkeri identified as code number K98-4069-21, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with the Impatiens hawkeri cultivar Danisu, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The cultivar Fisnics White was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Moncarapacho, Portugal in April, 1999.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken in Moncarapacho, Portugal, since July, 1999, has shown that the unique features of this new Impatiens are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Fisnics Whitexe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Fisnics Whitexe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Impatiens cultivar:
1. Outwardly spreading and uniformly mounded plant habit; small to medium growth habit.
2. Freely branching and freely flowering habit.
3. Deep green-colored foliage.
4. Large, rounded and white-colored flowers that are positioned above and beyond the foliage.
Plants of the new Impatiens can be compared to plants of the female parent selection. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Hillscheid, Germany, plants of the new Impatiens differed from plants of the female parent selection in the following characteristics:
1. Flower spurs of plants of the new Impatiens were white to pale light green in color whereas flower spurs of plants of the female parent selection were light pink in color.
2. Flowers of plants of the new Impatiens were white in color whereas flowers of plants of the female parent selection were white with a faint red purple hue.
Plants of the new Impatiens can be compared to plants of the male parent, the cultivar Danisu. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Hillscheid, Germany, plants of the new Impatiens differed from plants of the cultivar Danisu in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Impatiens were not as broad as plants of the cultivar Danisu.
2. Leaves of plants of the new Impatiens were smaller, darker green in color and had shorter petioles than plants of the cultivar Danisu.
3. Flowers of plants of the new Impatiens were larger and were held higher above the foliage than flowers of plants of the cultivar Danisu.
Plants of the new Impatiens can also be compared to plants of the cultivar Moorea, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,147. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Hillscheid, Germany, plants of the new Impatiens differed from plants of the cultivar Moorea in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Impatiens had darker green-colored leaves than plants of the cultivar Moorea.
2. Flower spurs of plants of the new Impatiens were white to pale light green in color whereas flower spurs of plants of the cultivar Moorea were white to light pink in color.
3. Plants of the new Impatiens had larger flowers than plants of the cultivar Moorea.